I didn't want to derail the memorial thread, but I caught this image there -- it's how Lloyd's of London observed Veteran's Day:

Jumped out at me for the "V" formation there which looks like pretty much any Lodge meeting I've ever been to, so I posed the question "Is it sane or absurd to assume that Lloyd's is basically controlled by Freemasons?"

Turns out there's enough info there to start a thread.

Just watched a James Burke Connections episode about Lloyd's of London last night -- it was great and made me feel utterly ignorant because I had no idea how much power they've been wielding. It was like the Council for National Policy...I was aware of them like the hum from an appliance, it was mostly ubiquitous background noise. Note to self: that's a really good place to hide out, apparently.

No matter what else Lloyd's represents, they're certainly an incredible looking venue for mundane evil deeds...a massive science-fiction version of the sets from American Psycho, there's definitely a touch of Terry Gilliam to it all...

1992 Article from the Times....

"Time to lift the apron: Pressure is mounting for the Freemasons in big business to reveal all."

ON THE first Monday in February and December, and the third Monday in April and October, an anonymous collection of men, carrying plain briefcases, make their way to 86 St James's Street in Westminster, London. They are members of the Black Horse of Lombard Street Lodge, a secretive group of Freemasons who have one thing in common: they all work for Lloyds Bank or have close connections with it.

Likewise, four times a year the Holden Lodge meets at Freemasons Hall, an imposing stone building east of Covent Garden. Again the common link is their employer, this time Midland Bank. Soon after, their Masonic counterparts at National Westminster get together.

There is nothing unusual about these meetings. Up to 300,000 men are estimated to be Freemasons. Many are financiers and businessmen. There are more than 8,000 lodges, some of them exclusive to a particular employer or industry. Lloyd's, the insurance market, famously has three, including the Lutine Lodge.

Share traders have several lodges. One is said to be the Verity, whose members congregate at the City of London Club in Old Broad Street, conveniently close to the old Stock Exchange tower, on the first Thursday of February, October and December. The Bank of England also has its own lodge.

While Freemasonry in the police, the judiciary and local government has been the focus of opposition and suspicion, Masons in the business community have escaped largely unscathed.

...

However, Martin Short, author of Inside the Brotherhood, believes the Freemasonry can be more sinister, especially in the City, where there are hundreds of lodges. 'The Square Mile has been squared, and encompassed, many times over by the men in lamb-skin aprons. The capacity for corruption is there. It is a kind of additional old boy net. I think it blurs people's objective edges.'

He points to one lodge he came across in his research, where the members were largely made up of Ministry of Defence procurement staff, Army officers and senior managers of armaments manufacturers. 'Nor was Masonry a force for good in the Lloyd's insurance scandals,' he adds.

The Labour MP Chris Mullin is also suspicious of Masonic lodges and other secret societies. His Private Member's Bill, to be debated in November, calls for public figures to be obliged to disclose membership.

.....

According to Ken Helps, assistant to the Grand Secretary at the United Grand Lodge of England, businessmen are given no advice on the matter: 'We leave it purely up to them. They are completely at liberty to disclose if they want. But they must not use Freemasonry to improve their business or professional occupation.'

Wombaticus Rex wrote:Wow. Not to derail the thread, but what up with the Masonic V formation going here?

Just watched a James Burke Connections episode about Lloyd's of London last night -- it was great and made me feel utterly ignorant because I had no idea how much power they've been wielding. It was like the Council for National Policy...I was aware of them like the hum from an appliance, it was mostly ubiquitous background noise. Note to self: that's a really good place to hide out, apparently.

Is it safe or absurd to assume they're basically a Masonic institution?

You moved the post just as I was replying! Thought something weird was going on - it kept saying "The requested post does not exist." Thought Lloyds had got to you already.

That picture was the one that got to me as well, despite the wealth of other freaky pics in that article. Everything about it, the angle, the fish-eye lense, the sheer number of them, the facelessness of them, the obvious unshakeable and largely unaccountable power suggested by everything in that picture... it's just not right.

As for assuming their Masonic, I don't know if it's safe, but it's certainly not absurd.

I'd like to know more about them too. All I know is they track back a long way into history, and had a hand in nearly everything - it's probably the oldest insurance market in the world.

Heh...

The general public knows Lloyd's for some unusual or notable policies it has written. For example, Lloyd's has insured:

* silent film comedian Ben Turpin's eyes against uncrossing * Betty Grable's, Brooke Shields's, and Tina Turner's legs * cricketer Merv Hughes's trademark walrus mustache while playing for Australia between 1985-1994 * Jimmy Durante's nose * the hands of the 1932 World Yo-Yo Champion Harvey Lowe * Keith Richards' slender fingers * food critic and gourmet Egon Ronay's taste buds for £250,000 * Celine Dion's, Bob Dylan's and Bruce Springsteen's vocal cords * Michael Flatley's legs for $47 million (the policy was only in effect when he was touring, and forbade him from dancing except on stage) * America Ferrera's smile for $10 million * Ken Dodd's teeth for $7.4 million * Tempest Storm's breasts * Steve Fossett's life for $50 million * the bodies of several professional wrestlers, including Bret Hart, Ric Flair, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, Brian Adams, and Joe Laurinaitis, better known as Road Warrior Animal * Diana Lee's hair * Troy Polamalu's hair for $1 million * participating automobiles in the carpools involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott * a grain of rice with a portrait of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh engraved on it for $20,000 * a confident comedy theatre group against the risk of a member of their audience dying of laughter * the development of the new World Trade Center with workers' compensation, general liability, excess liability and speciality insurance programmes

I bet those Freeman-on-the-Land types would have some theories on LOL, and it's part in merchant and naval maritime law, come to think of it. It has several whole Acts of Parliament dedicated solely to it's own business and operation.

"The universe is 40 billion light years across and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. That is the position of the universe with regard to human life."

It used to be rung once if news came that a ship had sank (instantly halting any reinsurance of the vessel) or twice if the ship was safe. Now it is only rung to commemorate 9/11, and no doubt Armistice Day as well.

"I was drivin' down the road and I picked up a man of ethosWell I've never seen a man who looked so down and outHe said 'Beware the Witch's promise, beware the lutine bell,Beware the Witch's promise and you'll do well'

The building itself is... quite Illuminating...

How can they afford the electricity?

"The universe is 40 billion light years across and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. That is the position of the universe with regard to human life."

slimmouse wrote:Anti Aristo has an excellent letter somewhere in the data dump spilling the dirt on Lloyds

Tony Blair of course promised a register of freemasons as a manifesto pledge in 1997 which needless to say vanished into the ether.

I remember that pledge - went the same way as all his other pledges.

Didn't Jack Straw try the same thing again more recently, and crap out of it the same way?

Woah... he actually got it passed, at least for newly appointed judges or magistrates, but then repealed it when the Grand Lodge threatened to take him to court. He wouldn't've stood much chance in a British court really, all things considered, when you think about it.

Since 1998 those becoming judges or magistrates have been required to say if they are a Mason after the then Home Secretary – Mr Straw – said membership of "secret societies such as freemasonry" could raise suspicions of impartiality and objectivity.

But, now Justice Secretary, Mr Straw has abandoned the requirement after the United Grand Lodge of England threatened legal action following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights.

In 2007, the court ruled in favour of Italian Masons that making an official declare their membership breached their rights to free association and was discriminatory.

Mr Straw yesterday said a review had shown no evidence of "impropriety or malpractice" as a result of a judge being a Freemason and that it would be "disproportionate" to continue with the practice.

The move sparked a furious backlash in 1998 and attempts to make a similar requirement for police officers was dropped in favour of voluntary declarations.

John Hamill, spokesman for the United Grand Union, said: "We are very happy the right thing has been done at long last."

The motherfucking SCAM is the message and always has been. Gee, Lloyd, how do we get everybody to get mind controlled? Well, let's give them freemasonry, Sam. And so it was.

Having lost my fucking job yesterday, I can tell you, that these photos are grotesque. So I wonder 82_28, why are these photos grotesque? Well, it's because a thousand plus people are all paying homage to "lucifer", just as my fucking company did. They are only in power so long as us motherfuckers BELIEVE they have some kind of power. All those people in the photos could have chosen to burn that shit down, break everything. But they didn't. Why?

There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi

There have been more since then - mostly hangings, at least the ones in London.

-----------------------------------------------------Sorry to hear about your job, 82_28. I haven't had one in years, and don't feel the lack of it now, but I suppose I've just been kind of lucky so far. I know how hard it can get. All the best to you. You'll be alright.

"The universe is 40 billion light years across and every inch of it would kill you if you went there. That is the position of the universe with regard to human life."

Lloyd's history as a shipping and naval interest I thought pertinent to Ben Mack's description of pirates, naval history's implications and the law of the sea implications for transnational institutions:

Pirate—Somebody living outside the dominant system, Or, a secret source of power controlling the system. Causa Latet Vis Est Notisima. A navigator of subtle power. Somebody with cunning and power whose very presence and existence challenges the power elites. Modern industrial life is controlled by convenient myths, Extraordinarily powerfully old memes.

They are their own challengers?

Interesting how the focus, even in alternative culture has been a shift away from the masonic influence. Used to be that the masons were the number one on internet conspiracy sites. I think that's a partly positive development as it's been a bit of a recognition of the system's complexity.

Rage against the ever vicious downward spiral.Time to get back to basics. [url=http://zmag.org/zmi/readlabor.htm]Worker Control of Industry![/url]